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An Ancient Maya Reservoir and Dam at Tamarindito, El Peten, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Timothy Beach  and
Nicholas Dunning
Timothy Beach
Affiliation:
Program in Science, Technology, and International Affairs, 301 ICC, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057
Nicholas Dunning
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
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Abstract

We report a Prehispanic dam and remnants of a small reservoir at the ancient Maya site of Tamarindito in the Río de la Pasión region of Guatemala's Petén district. The remnants of the dam are on the Petexbatún escarpment, to the east of the main site in the midst of an area of residential groups and numerous and varied agricultural terracing. The dam was about 60 m long and would have held a reservoir of about 2,000 m3. This volume of water was sufficient to irrigate nearby terraced fields. The dam and reservoir probably date to the Late Classic period (A.D. 550-800), a period during which Tamarindito was involved in regional warfare. In addition to producing irrigation water, we hypothesize that the system was built to provide a supplemental, more defensible, residential water supply and to protect a spring located below the dam.

Reportamos aquí una presa prehispánica y restos de un depósito de agua en el sitio maya antiguo de Tamarindito, en la región del Río de la Pasión, distrito del Petén, Guatemala. Los restos de la presa están en la escarpa de Petexbatún, al este del centro del sitio, en un área de grupos habitacionales y terrazas agrícolas numerosas. La presa fue construida con dos muros externos de piedras grandes y un relleno de piedras pequeñas. La presa tuvo aproximadamente 60 m de largo, con una concavidad de 2 m de profundidad, y forma un depósito de agua de aproximadamente 2,000 m3. Este volumen fue suficiente para regar campos agrícolas cercanos. La presa y el depósito de agua se fechan aparentemente para el periodo Clásico Tardío (550-800 d.C.), un tiempo de guerra regional. Además de agua para riego, postulamos que este sistema fue construido para asegurar un suministro de agua residencial más defendible, y proteger un manantial ubicado debajo de la presa.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 20 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1997

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References

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